Since the 1960s, every year at the beginning of October, the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya (International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia) arrives punctually, the first in the world dedicated to the fantasy genre and which, over the years, has become an international benchmark. It is the film festival with most prestige and the widest media coverage of those held in Catalonia.

It started in 1968 under the name of the International Week of Fantasy and Horror Movies in Sitges and since then has been held uninterruptedly, offering the thousands of visitors, who flock there each year, film screenings, exhibitions and conferences. The festival has constantly received visits from performers, directors and producers of national and international renown.

The Sitges Film Festival is also the host of the annual awards of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation.